


You must be mistaken

by FoxyClocks



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Anxiety, Boy!marinette, Reverse Crush AU, Social Anxiety, genderswap?, homeschooled marinette, it's complicated. - Freeform, slowburn, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-02-02 14:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12728751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxyClocks/pseuds/FoxyClocks
Summary: Marinette has finally decided to start going to a regular school but once again she's been mistaken and has been introduced to her class as Marin Dupain-Cheng. Too nervous to find the courage to speak up she decides to wait but finds herself too deep to reveal to her class that she is really a girl. So maybe she should just roll with it?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is to help me get away from writers block - it's gonna be a pretty slow burning fic. I got the idea somewhat from a Tiwanese show called Bromance? You guys should 100% watch it!!!
> 
> Also I know it's short but I just needed to get this part out before I could really start writing for it!

My parents met in the spring of 1993. 

My father, without knowing a lick of Chinese traveled to the country after having visited many others on his abroad tour while studying different methods to make pastries. China was his last stop of many.

He stayed in a small town called Tongli and because of his lack of English not many restaurants in the area wanted to hire him but that didn’t stop him from trying to learn all that he could. 

My mother at the time was 20 years old. She lived on her own but worked in a small family run café with her uncle. Being a somewhat quiet woman my mother found herself mostly studying instead of going out in her free time but that never seemed to bother her. 

My father started showing up to the café after having lived in the town around the first week. Language barriers kept him from making many friends. English had helped him get around many countries before but not many people in the small town knew the language considering that it was mostly populated with older people. 

But barriers or non- he still noticed her. 

He noticed my mother. 

After his first visit to the café he admired the petit girl with the long rave hair who stood behind the counter practicing her constructing of pastries. He found it funny the way she would get frustrated after screwing up the decorations on her many practice attempts but he noticed that her uncle never disciplined but rather encouraged her tossing out many of the failed attempts.

He was probably one of the gentlest chefs to his apprentices even considering his intimidating size. 

My father told me the first time he ever spoke with my mother he pointed towards the pile of disregarded bean buns and began to shuffle through his pants pockets t grab his wallet. My mother of course insisted that she give him the better looking pastries that her uncle had made but my father refused to take them. He only wanted the ones that she had made wither she thought they were perfect or not- he appreciated the care that she put into each pastry even when she knew they wouldn’t turn out to be anything worth selling. 

The first word my father learned was ‘Xièxiè’ – thank you.

And he milked that as much as he could. 

He would spend every day in the café from the afternoon to their close. After a coupe days of perfecting his phrase to the baker he had met he bought an French to Chinese dictionary. 

It wasn’t until a couple days of my father trying and failing to speak with my mother that she finally decided to spare my father anymore embarrassment when she began to speak with him in French. Which in all honesty was probably more embarrassing to him but she appreciated his effort in trying to learn Chinese. 

His way of never giving up was something that my mother had admired about him from the start. 

My mother convinced her uncle to allow my father to work in their café the Chinese that he learned, while minimal, and still helped him get around their kitchen. 

After a few months of living in the small town and working along side my mother it was time for my father to return back home but instead- he stayed. 

He stayed much longer than anticipated- a few years longer in fact. 

My parents got married in the Chinese countryside in the year 2000.

My mother shortly after found herself pregnant. 

My grandmother was a Shaman. She predicted that my mother would give birth to a healthy baby boy in the month of August.

You may or may not know: I am a girl and I was born on October 30, 1999. 

But my parents- being the young and anxious people they were they were determined to give me the best life that I could. 

I was born in Beijing, China on October 30th, 2000 at 17:45 as Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

To my luck and dismay my feminine physique never quite came into play. Though it wasn’t something I ever minded. Long hair wasn’t ever something I really liked on myself, short hair was much more manageable.

Growing up I was often mistaken as boy, often heard people calling me Marin in thoughts that they had heard my name wrong. 

It didn’t matter to me wither people viewed me as a man or woman. I knew who I was and that was all that mattered. 

 

I grew up in a small townhouse in central Paris. The front of my home soon after moving into the place had become a bakery and after about three years into that process of constructing their own personalized bakery it finally opened. 

For a while the only two things that they had they could afford to make together was red bean buns and macaroons. The two things that my parents bakery became the most successful for.

I grew up down the block from a small family who had also recently moved into the area and I made my first friend. 

Her name was Alya Césaire, she was a year older than I was and the only other person besides my parents to ever call me Marinette. 

Through my own choice I decided to become homeschooled through primary school. I was never particularly social as a child and I rather liked being home and learning what I wanted, my parents bought me the supplies I needed to create my designs as well as the knowledge I needed and a job inside their bakery. 

But at 17 years old I realized that I was missing out. Though Alya was a handful enough to count for 10 friends in 1 she was still the only person I had, well, knew really. The stories that she had told me from her times in school with her classmates- all of the school trips they had taken and fun activities they did together made me envious. 

I wanted that. 

So I convinced my parents to allow me to go to school.


	2. Chapter 2

Another short one I know :/ But break is almost here and as of now i'm still working on mid-terms for uni so hopefully i'll be able to give you guys a longer third chapter! I also wanted to say thank you so much to all the people that commented and left kudos on this fic! I really appreciate all the feedback you guys give me so hopefully this chapter is enough of a thanks and if not I promise the next one will be!

(THIS CHAPTER WAS BETA READ BY FANTAU WHO IS A BLESSING OF A PERSON AND SO WONDERFUL)

* * *

It was her first day of school.

Rightfully- she was nervous.

_What should I wear?_

How should I do my hair?

What if the other students don't like me?

What if my teacher asks me a question that I don't know the answer to?

What if-

Tikki could see from a mile away that her chosen was riddled with anxiety. Hell- she was emitting enough of an anxious aura that even tikki could feel it but Marinette couldn't help it.

"Marinette…" the short-haired girl could hear her tiny voice squeak out through the jumble of thoughts in her head taking a few moments before she could zero in on what she was saying to her, "You look like a wreck – you and I both know that no matter what happens you will not leave that school with any less friends than you started with."

She was right.

There was no way I could ever convince Alya to hate me. Unless I did something super extremely embarrassing to make her hate me forever. GOD! The thoughts kept flooding my head.

"Calm down Marinette." she told herself focusing her efforts back on Tikki, "I still don't know what to wear…" She'd spend the morning shuffling through every item of clothing that she owned, Marinette even for a brief while considered making herself an entire different outfit from scratch because she hated everything she tried on.

Tikki drifted in the space behind me before quickly zipping in front of Marinette to take hold of her cheeks, "Dress in what makes you most comfortable… Don't worry about how anyone else will sees you and you know Alya will be there to have your back."

She was right.

…

Again.

Tikki was always right and was always there to guide her in the right direction. So – she dressed for comfort and she dressed in what made herself unique. She dressed in what she made. In what she was proud of and she didn't care if anyone didn't like it because she liked it and Alya and Tikki liked it and her parents liked it and that should be enough for her…right..?

Marinette clenched her fists with a grimace and stared at her Kwami. Up until this point she still had no idea how she survived growing up without her but she was glad that she would never need to worry about that anymore.

So, the small girl threw on a t-shirt that she had made the summer before. It was white all throughout, reaching the bottom hems of the shirt was lined front to back with flowers and hidden within them small ladybugs. Over that, she pulled on a black jacket and a pair of maroon jeans followed with a pair of old sneakers.

_Comfort_

_Comfort_

She kept repeating it in her head.

"Makeup?" she asked Tikki, who by this point had re-curled herself into a burrow of blankets.

"Marinette – you never wear make up."

"Right. I don't even know how to do makeup. Thanks Tik." She was going to go crazy.

Looking in the mirror Marinette tugged at the ends of her hair, which only reached to just barely brush the top of her shoulders. From her neck she traced her fingers up against her scalp and ruffled her hair up attempting something different.

_I hate it._

Quickly, the messy-haired girl rushed into the bathroom to fix it.

"Marinette! Alya is here!" her mother yelled up to her.

"Just a minute!" Marinette yelled back, frantically reaching for her brush and parting the top layer of her hair and tying it back into a small bun. She rushed back out into her room, scooping up Tikki, and placed her into the largest pocket of her backpack, "Don't worry I'll be sure to stuff some cookies in there for you." She said with a smile before tossing the backpack over her shoulders and giving herself one last look in the mirror.

She adjusted her backpack,

Then the straps on her shoulders.

_Did students even wear their backpacks like this?_

_Was this the right k-_

"Marinette!" her mother yelled again snapping her out of her daze.

"Coming!"

Like any mother, Marinette's mother took her anxiety and increased it fourfold. As soon as she had reached the kitchen she found Alya tearing off small parts of a croissant that her mother had made them for breakfast while trying to shoulder all of Sabine's worries. Marinette immediately regretted coming down at all.

Maybe she could've stayed upstairs, never gone to school, grown a beard and become a hermit all on her own and-

"Sweetheart! I packed your lunch for you-" she spun her around stuffing the small bag into one of the pockets of her backpack.

"Thanks mom…"

"And if you change your mind always remember your father and I don't mind teaching you here."

"Yes I know…"

"And if any of the students are mean to you-"

"I'll kick their asses. Don't worry Mrs. Cheng- Lil'Mari will be just fine with me I'll take good care of her." Alya said with a large grin, "You'll scare her before she even gets to school. I know she'll have a good time."

And with that- before Sabine could utter out another word Alya quickly rushed her small friend out the door and past the bakery.

"Thanks Alya.." Marinette said with a nervous grin.

"No problem, girlie, you're mom was making me nervous to go to school and I've been in class with these dorks for almost 3 years." She chuckled tearing off another piece of croissant.

Mariette followed stress eating the melt-y pastry in record time.

"Woah, cool it Mari, you'll give yourself a stomach ache!" the brunette laughed patting her friend on the back lightly, "Seriously, Mari – relax you'll love it and they'll love you. And if they don't love you…" She mumbled cracking her knuckles, "I'll make them regret it…"

She needed a good laugh that morning and thanks to Alya – she got it.

The walk to school wasn't far yet somehow, a part of her hoped that it would be. Their short walk to school wasn't enough to prepare herself. Upon approaching, she reached into her pockets and took out her phone searching through her recent emails.

"So I need to find a…" Her blue eyes drifted along the information filled email, "Mr. Damocles – the principal."

"I'll get you there." Alya smiled, and lead her up the stairs to the school, "He looks sorta scary but he can be a big push over sometimes." She laughed.

The walk to the principal's office seemed like the longest in her entire life. All of the students seemed to be sitting in the courtyard at the school by this point, most likely all waiting for class to start. From then on not only had Marinette realized that she was an outsider before but now she really felt like it. It was almost like she could feel eyes locking in on her when in reality- not many people noticed but of course it was up to Marinette to classically over think her situations.

_Everything will be fine_  she kept telling herself  _and soon I'll be in class with Alya and then I'll be home free._

"Hey- I'll see you later?" the brunette smiled and headed off to her classroom with a smile.

"Yeah… later."

This was his door. Come on Marinette – you can do this… She took in a deep breath and opened the door, "Mr. Damocles?"

"Ahh You must be Marinette, I've been expecting you-" A rather plump man sat on the opposing end of the room behind a large desk, "Oh- I'm sorry, I thought you were-"

"I am Mar-"

"Ahh my sincerest apologies, there must have been an error on the documents sent to us I'll get on that right away." He explained gesturing her to sit down in one of the chairs across from him.

"Wha-…"  _What was wrong with my documents?_

"You will be attending classes with Madame Boustier and Madam Mendeleive. I'm sure that anything you need your classmates will be more than willing to give you a hand around the school." He explained sorting through the couple of papers on his desk, crossing out and re-writing some small scribbles, "That class is filled with rather exceptionally well behaved students and if you'd follow me I'll hand you off to Madame Boustier."

"O-Of course." She stammered and nervously followed the principal out of the office and down the hallway. He ushered her to remain outside of the classroom until Madame Boustier brought her in and she willingly complied. Though, she couldn't tell if she was about to throw up from being so excited or from being so nervous... but that was normal, right? Mr. Damocles left the classroom and patted her shoulder, giving her a gentle push into the room.

"We do have a new student this morning so let's welcome them with open arms." Madame Boustier smiled eagerly motioning the girl closer to her. Marinette found herself far too nervous to look out into the class so, instead, she looked at the ground. Madame Boustier held her clipboard up and traced down the papers that Mr. Damocles had handed her and she spoke.

"This is Marin Dupain-Cheng. He's new to the school setting so lets make sure that we give him a hand while he tries to find his way around the school."

_Oh._

"Marin you can feel free to take a seat beside Alya it seems she's very eager to have her friend in class."

_No._

"Adrien – If you wouldn't mind showing Marin around during our break this afternoon that would be a great help."

_What's happening?_

"Of course! I'd be happy to show him around – Nino and I will be a great welcoming party!"

_Please tell me I'm dreaming._

_What do I do?_

_Do I say something?_

_Do I correct her?_

_This CAN'T be happening._

Marinette walked zombie-like to the seat beside Alya and plopped herself down.

"Mari…" Alya mumbled nudging my shoulder, "Say something…!"

She shook her head.

Alya grunted and opened her mouth "Mada-"

She elbowed her side cutting her off, "Don't…"

She couldn't tell what was more embarrassing: The fact that she was mistaken for a boy or the fact that she could be from then on known as the girl who got mistaken for a boy. So, she stayed silent and reassured herself slowly reminding herself:

I _t didn't matter how others saw me. I know who I am and that's what matters._

_That's what matters…_

Marinette looked over and smiled at Alya, "It's okay, really..."

_I hope it'll be okay…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one I know :/ But break is almost here and as of now i'm still working on mid-terms for uni so hopefully i'll be able to give you guys a longer third chapter!!
> 
> I also wanted to say thank you so much to all the people that commented and left kudos on this fic! I really appreciate all the feedback you guys give me so hopefully this chapter is enough of a thanks and if not I promise the next one will be!!
> 
>  
> 
> (THIS CHAPTER WAS BETA READ BY FANTAU WHO IS A BLESSING OF A PERSON AND SO WONDERFUL)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG! I'm super sorry this took so long to get out... I was so caught up with a lot of work and I had finals... But i've already started on the next two chapters to hopefully be out very soon since i'm on holiday! Anyway thanks for your guy's patience and holY CRAP. THANK YOU FOR LIKE THE 1100 VIEWS AND THE COMMENTS AND THE KUDOS IM CRYING!!!

As soon as Marinette got home she tossed her backpack to the side of the desk, and with spread arms, free fell onto the bed, smushing her face into the covers as deep as she could.There was no doubt about it, she was absolutely done for.

Tikki drifted out of her bag, a little wobbly, and floated over to the bed sitting beside her chosen, “It wasn’t that bad..?” There was a hint of question in her tone but she tried as best she could to cover it up with her positive thinking as usual.

 

“It wasn’t  _ that _ bad…?” The girl muffled into her comforter making inaudible sounds. Marinette gripped onto the blankets launching herself into an upright position, “It wasn’t _ THAT BAD _ !? I don’t know whose backpack  _ you _ were in all day but it most certainly wasn’t MINE!” and with that, She collapsed back onto her bed again, face first, hoping the sheets could smother her embarrassment. Marinette reached up, and grabbed a couple of pillows dragging them towards her head to cover herself, “Today freaking sucked..”

She really couldn’t lie. Marinette’s first day of school probably wasn’t the best, but Tikki pursed her lips trying to keep a rather large smile from forming across her face, “Okay, so maybe today wasn’t the best- but think I know something that would make it better..” She finally broke out into a grin.

It was almost as if Marinette could feel her ears perking. Was there really something that could make this day any better? Because, when it came to Tikki trying to make things better, her way of doing so was drowning in a pile of cookies. Marinette proceeded with caution, the look on Tikki’s face didn’t give that warmth that it usually had, making her eyebrows furrowed, “ What did you have in mind…?”

“As I seem to recall it is a Tuesday, and you know what that means…” she began not alluding anything easy to the clueless Marinette in front of her, soon gesturing up to the clock, “And it looks like in about two hours your favorite Tom Cat’s going to be waiting for you~”

Her face began heating up.

“And Chat Noir knows that you’re 100% a gir-“

Quickly,  hurled a pillow into her direction knocking her out of the air and onto the bed, “Shut up!” the dark haired girl shouted smothering herself with one of the other pillows against her face.

“Mari!!”  She heard her mother call from downstairs. 

Marinette started patting her cheeks quickly in attempt to get the flushed red color out of them, “Y-Yeah?” Marinette called back.

“Alya is here! They said they needed some help with homework!”

Quickly, she scrambled for her phone.

No notifications

No messages from Alya.

Usually she text before coming over…

Tightening the small ponytail resting on the back of her head she quickly, made her way down the steep steps into the kitchen area, where her mom gestured towards the living room.

“Hey Alya, you didn’t tell me you were coming ov-“ 

_ Great. I guess I should have known it wouldn’t have been just Alya but instead the two boys who’d given me the tour around school earlier. Shit – I was so preoccupied through the day that I forgot their names and to top it all off: they still think i’m a guy.. _

“Yeah, we just needed some help with homework and we thought we could hang out for a while.” Alya smiled again grabbing the two boys by their arms and dragging them towards the stairs. 

“Well-“ The three zipped past and ran up the stairs, “Wait! Alya!” Marinette quickly chased after them and could only feel more humiliated when she saw them staring bewildered around her bedroom.

Adrien couldn’t say that it looked like how he pictured. Though- he couldn’t say that this was how he pictured any teenage boy’s room, and then again who was he to judge? The room looked pristine, well kept and very… pink.  The only thing he could find just out of place were a couple pillows looking like they’d been tossed from the bed and a backpack hurled into the corner of the room near the desk.

Alya, without hesitation, rushed over to the bed and leapt on it flopping over onto her side with a rather large, relaxed sigh into the comforter of her friend’s bed.

Marinette, still catching her breath, started to speak, unknowingly at the same time as the blonde boy who stood across the room from her shuffling through his backpack.

“I can only hang out for a couple hours, I’m busy today.”

The two stared dumbfounded at each other.

“I-I’ve got fencing practice!” Adrien stammered out followed swiftly by a jittery Marinette,

 

“I have to pick up groceries for the bakery!” Ugh, what a shitty excuse… If there was anything that Marinette was more terrible at it was lying and her excessive use of the whole ‘groceries’ excuse was something that Alya had heard endlessly. It wasn’t like she could just tell Alya something random, like she was going to practice, or work, or had too much homework, because Alya knew everything there was to know about Marinette, which kept her at a great disadvantage.

“Uhg, didn’t you get stuff for them last week?” Alya complained kicking her feet up into the air.

“Well yeah but-“

“You can’t expect a bakery to run without food, Alya.” Nino teased pulling up Marinette’s desk chair next to the bed and slinging his backpack off his shoulder, “Don’t worry Marin, we’ll be outta your hair in a but- Alya said you were good at physics and we’re struggling with the homework.”

 

_ Actually, it’s Marinette… _ Maybe she should say something.. They don’t seem that bad and she was sure that they’d understand..but yet again she couldn’t buckle down and fins the courage to speak up so she ignored it and went on.

 

The girl looked down; there really wasn’t a way she could say no to them. Now was her chance to make friends – ones like Alya had told her about, going out together to the movies, to lunches, on weekend trips together. As much as she treasured Alya there was never any hard in expanding her list of friends, “I guess I could help..” she mumbled shyly, walking over to her backpack and bringing it over to her bed to shuffle through for her folder.

Being that it had already been September, Marinette was aware that she had missed out on a lot of the material but – it didn’t seem to affect her. All things considered – her parents were some of the greatest teachers she could have asked for and she believed that they were probably some of the smartest people in the world. She could only thank her mother for her knowledge in physics. Marinette took out her notebook and slid out the small worksheet their teacher had assigned and looked over it quickly.

_ This is what they were having so much trouble with…? _

There was a feeling of an overwhelming guilt that came over her.

_ I learned this in middle school… _

She leaned over pointing to the first problem on the paper but something caught her eye. She slowly looked up seeing the blonde boy standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. There was only had one desk chair and Alya was sprawled out on most of the bed. So she scooted over a bit and patted the mattress beside her.

He could feel his cheeks warming, why was he so nervous? Hesitating at first he slowly made his way over to the bed sitting beside Marin. The bed was extremely comfortable- he could see why Alya a beeline straight for it but there was something else. Marin given off certain warmth… almost like it emitted off his body but it somehow seemed familiar.

“Does that make sense?”  She asked, looking over at the boy sitting beside her as he zoned back in from where ever he had gone off to.

“Yo, Adrien – you alright?” Nino asked leaning forward in his chair.

Adrien was his name… “Adrien,” was it alright to say his name? “Do you need me to explain again..?” She questioned again, furrowing her eyebrows.

Marin’s eyes… They almost reminded him of-

Alya lurched forward leaning on Adrien’s shoulders, “This guy is always zoning out, and you’ll get used to it, Mari.”

Adrien blushed in embarrassment shoving his face back into his papers and quickly jotting down what he had recalled Marin say, “I-I wasn’t zoning out I was just thinking about the answer!”

“Ugh, whatever, you know- you and Mari have the same faces when you zone out.” Alya added.

“We do..?”

She shot a gaze over at Alya. C’mon… All she wanted was just to try to make friends… Was it necessary to embarrass her this early on?

“Yeah” Alya began crossing her legs pointing at Adrien, “Except you make that face when you’re daydreaming about homework, and Mari makes that face when she’s daydreaming about boys-“

“Alya!” Her hands flew up to her face. Maybe, just maybe this time, if Marinette couldn’t see them then they couldn’t see her... But that wasn’t the case. Honestly this day couldn’t get any worse…  But she wasn’t about to doubt the universe for just one second that it could make it worse.

“Hey, it’s alright, dude.” Nino said, with a soft smile on his face, “I get the same way you got nothing to be ashamed of.” He joked nudging her shoulder.

This was going terribly. Honestly, she just wanted to get out of there and go because if there was anyone who could turn the girl’s day around it would be Chat. Only an hour left – and she doubted by any force in her mind that something would go wrong. It was bound to happen.

“No really! You should see Mari when we’re watching interviews and videos of Chat Noir!”

Nope, she couldn’t hold it back any longer, this was it. Was she going to die right here of embarrassment? Well, if she did, it’d been a good life and now she knew for her next time around to never tell anyone anything about her life. Suddenly, Marinette launched herself, pillow in hand and hurled it towards Alya.

Adrien couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, not just for himself but for Marin- he couldn’t quite imagine the feeling of all this happening at once, being outed by his friend and revealing his crush- there had to be something he could do to try to get the attention away from him.

The blonde leaned back on the bed, propping himself up, “Marin, don’t sweat it, Nino makes the same face when he thinks about Al-“

As soon as he felt Nino’s arm wrapping around his neck in a headlock, Adrien quickly began ‘tapping out’ on his friend’s arm

 

Marinette saw the blond’s  face go from white to red and bit her lip to hold back the laughter.

It wasn’t long before Alya shot up underneath her grip and began to try to pry Nino off of Adrien, She assumed that this was probably a normal occurrence, “Nino’s got a crush~” Alya taunted with a big grin up at the boy.

“S-Shut up! He was just joking!” Nino said, trying to make an excuse for the pure idiocy that his best friend was emitting.

“It doesn’t look like he was jokin-“

“Adrien and Marin have places they need to be let’s just get our stuff done and get out.” Nino pouted slumping back on his chair.

Homework didn’t last too much longer, considering that Marinette had known the materials fairly well and was able to go over it quickly and her three new friends were off on their way, and to make her day a little bit better, she had been added into her first “group-chat” she was really making friends- and despite how embarrassed they made her they didn’t seem to judge her for it… Maybe- maybe they wouldn’t be so angry or off-put if she told them that she was really a girl….

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for that wait you guys!! I've already started on the next chapter for you guys!I had some stuff with work go down and i ended up getting some stitched in my finger which made it a little uncomfy to type! Thank you guys for all the kudos and views! Hopefully you all won't be waiting on that next chapter for too long!

"Maman…!" Marinette called out, hearing her voice echo throughout the house, "I'm heading out, I'll be back soon!"

"Be careful dear, I still don't understand why you have to leave! Your father and I don't mind you having friends over!" Sabine called back.

"Oh- Yeah, well they forgot some stuff at home so we were going to meet somewhere else!"

"Don't be out too late, then!"

Rushing up to her room Marinette swiftly closed the door behind her, "Tikki?" She called out seeing her spotted partner zip up in front of her, with a smile, "Spots on..!"

He couldn't help but think about it… Marin- had a crush on… Chat Noir? The blond bit down on the inside of his cheek tightly trying to keep from smiling. Why did that make him smile so much?

"Bro, you've been zoning out a lot lately, you okay?" Nino asked, nudging his friend gently with his elbow.

The two walked slowly down the streets of a dimly lit Parisian evening. Adrien- nor Nino lived to terribly far which was the nice part, at least for them, since the pair had been practically inseparable since they met.

"It's just- I guess I never would have pegged Marin as the Chat Noir fan-type." Adrien went onto explain, trying his best not to embarrass himself. Of course the times watching TV with his friends and seeing ads and magazines around Paris labeling Chat Noir as one of Paris's most "Attractive Kitty Cats" did tend to be a slight embarrassing factor.

Nino reached up, lifting both of his hands behind his head and grinning widely, " I mean can ya blame him?"

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon dude, he's a hot superhero with a skintight suit who is a major flirt with the ladies." The brunette went on to explain.

Pouting, Adrien added, "He's not that much of a flirt…"

"I mean then again you, can't say that you don't see Ladybug in the same way-"

He thought for a moment- did he really think of Ladybug like that?

"I mean she's super hot and smart as hell, what more could you want really? Anyone who doesn't have a crush on her is actually insane."

No, it was impossible to think about her like that.

Ladybug was just a friend.

"I don't know, Nino, it's possible to think all those things about someone and not have romantic feelings for them." Adrien protested.

"Whatever, dude, you just keep thinking that." The brunet laughed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

The two walked a little farther down the street before the blond pulled out his cell phone:

16:30

He only had about a half hour before he had to meet up with his partner and if he continued with Nino on his path home he knew that he'd never make it on time and Ladybug would never let him live that down. Much like the great many other times he'd been late for patrol. If anything- he hoped that at least this time he'd be early... but before that he had to find a way to get away from his friend.

His fingers tapped against his leg quickly, they were approaching a small alley way. Alright Adrien, just act normal, be cool… "I-I'm gonna take a shortcut home! I'm going to go this way! Bye Nino!" He said before taking off slipping through the ally way quickly.

"Wai- Adrien!" Nino called out but it was a lost cause, "Idiot, your house is in the other direction…"

Honestly she never minded being so early for patrols. She got a moment to herself away from Paris's busy streets. The noise from below barely made it up to her perch and the air was always so refreshing. Ladybug sat herself nearing the edge of the roof letting her leg just barley hang over and kick in the breeze. Coming early to patrol meant that she got the chance to just sit and watch the sun set.

Her arms stretched back behind her, holding her torso up. She let her head tilt backwards and her hair sweep past her shoulders - still styled the same was as before with a small bun tying back her bangs. She watched as the stars slowly come through against the purple sky. By this point it had to be close to five and Chat- as per usual- was about to be late. Ladybug fell backwards laying her against the chilled roof giving herself a better view of the night-turning sky.

Chat paused.

He was late but he didn't mind.

He happened upon his partner lying down on the roof, hands folded against her stomach.

I guess I can see the appeal… he thought to himself taking a couple steps closer to her.

"You're late, kitty."

He stopped in place letting out a sigh, "Just barely, my lady." Chat argued. He walked to where she was resting, and stretched out beside her. "Anything dangerous happen while you were waiting?" he grinned.

"You wouldn't believe it!" She exclaimed tossing her hands up in the air, "There were three fires and four akumas I had to take care of all on my own!"

"Wow- in only two minutes of my absence?"

"You better believe it!" She said cracking a smile turning her head over to look at him as he looked back.

"You're amazing, Ladybug."

The masked hero felt her cheeks flush and begin to burn up. Almost immediately she shot up from her position her hair fell from her shoulders, "W-We should just patrol now… L-Lets go..!" she stammered.

"Woah, woah! Slow down Ladybug!" Chat protested, "We don't have to rush into it, besides it seems pretty calm tonight."

He was right, she just needed to get a grip, "Well, maybe we could make a round... " She suggested. Just a nice calm walk nothing to be nervous about.

"Sounds like a plan!" The cat grinned leaping up onto his feet, "Shall we?"

Chat watched her pull her yo-yo from her hip before he stood up himself. The act of grabbing his baton was so automatic he hadn't realized he'd done it until he was already following her. He loved patrolling Paris, watching the streets below bustle. It wasn't very often they actually caught anything happening, but both of them stubbornly ignore it, and convince themselves to go out.

It wasn't long before the two found themselves aimlessly wandering around, unnoticed by the Parisian pedestrians down below. It was always best for the two to stay out of sight for the pair, getting all the attraction from fans and reporters made quiet nights like this unbearable.

Chat have never been one to be nervous about getting to know someone. Neither did Adrien in this case. He was always a very open and friendly person which, in turn, made people more open and friendly with him. This, time and time again, proved to not be the case with his partner. The only things that he knew about Ladybug that she was probably around the same age as him and that- well, that was really the only thing that he knew about her. Usually directly akuma attacks, Ladybug took off, he always assumed she was busy or camera shy, so he never questioned it and on top of that when ever he tried to talk to her during patrols she tried to avoid any personal or rather any conversation in general and he again, always assumed that it was shyness. But today she seemed a bit distracted, maybe he could catch her off guard. Casually, Chat twisted his shrunken staff in his hand taking long, leisurely steps along side his partner,

"So," he began nervously, he'd never really bothered to ask anything about Ladybug's personal life, that'd always been sort of a topic that was always off limits but the two had grown closer, which made him think that maybe it wouldn't be, "What would you be doing if we were not patrolling tonight?." He grinned hoping that his question wouldn't go unanswered. As much of a flirt and well- as Ladybug so lovingly calls him, a dork he was in his mask he really did want to know more about his partner in crime.

Ladybug smiled gently dragging her feet along the rooftop, fiddling with her fingers, "On a night like tonight…" She paused, she didn't really do anything overly interesting… well, nothing that she thought was overly interesting, "I'd probably be in my room, maybe drawing some designs, watering my flowers, finishing homework. Things normal teenagers do." she smiled. A little uneasy, she'd never been one to be so personal about her life behind the mask but she felt as thought she could trust Chat- that and she found it difficult to say no to him, "And what about you, Kitty?"

"Similar to you, I'm usually doing the same routine, homework, practice, studying…" he listed.

"You're a pretty busy kitty, huh?"

"What else will My Lady leak to me?" He egged on, making his steps last a little longer in stride. He was finally getting her to open up to him and he wasn't about to rush their rounds before he could get closer to her.

Ladybug's eyes drew to a squint and a grin popped up at the corner of her lips, "What are you trying to do, Chat Noir?" she questioned crossing her arms over her chest, slowing down in turn.

Holding his hands up in surrender, "I'm just like any other curious cat." He explained with a cheeky grin plastered on his face.

"I will be broad." She continued holding up her hand beginning to count on her fingers, "You will get three facts about my personal life, but I expect to get three back."

Chat nodded in agreement biting the inside of his cheek, this is something that he had been waiting on for months and he was finally getting it. Although broad and only five he was willing to take what he could get.

"Number one: I attend secondary school, here in Paris" she began listing sticking out her thumb to indicate her list.

"What schoo-"

"No, No, I said broad."

"My apologies, please go on."

"Thank you," She grinned now extending her index finger, "I work in a bakery."

There are an unmeasurable amount of bakeries in Paris, she really wasn't joking when she said broad… but he was determined to figure out how to narrow it down.

"Three," now her middle finger, "I religiously listen to Jagged Stone-

"You like Jagged Stone..?" Chat said with a newfound excitement in his voice, "I love Jagged Stone!"

"What person in the right mind wouldn't! His music is amazing!" There were in fact a couple of people that she could think of that didn't so much like Jagged Stone. Those being the only three people she knew well enough, Her Mother, Father and Alya. Alya never really minded the music but as she says she wouldn't 'Go out of her way to listen to it.'

"Now, it's your turn Cat Boy." She smiled opening up the floor to her partner.

Chat thought for a moment, "Well, to be broad," he mocked, "I am, like you, in secondary school here…. In paris. Two," He couldn't exactly out right tell her that he was a model, "I have a job… working… for a popular industry of sorts."

"Wow." She said unsuccessfully containing a giggle, "And I thought I was being broad."

That was horribly embarrassing but it was the only thing that he could think of, "Well- I learned from the best." He grinned, "And last but not least number three, I similarly to my lady, am Jagged Stone's number one fan."

"Well that's just unfair, you know three new things about you and only know one! You stole two of my-"

Cut off by the sounding bells of the Notre Dame with their starting tones, listening through them she counted out 8 bell tones with a ninth higher than the rest.

"It's 8:30… I told my mom i'd be back!" Ladybug explained, "I'm sorry to cut this night short but, I need to go back home before my parents start worrying." She said in slight panic, taking a couple steps back with her yo-yo in hand.

"Of course, I will continue on the rest of our path through the night and be on my way."

"Thanks Chat, Sorry again! I promise next time I'll be here the rest of the time!" She called out as her yo-yo latched onto one of the buildings.

"Goodnight, Ladybug." Chat said with a smile. He stalked along their normal patrol route, there wasn't all that much more to look over especially considering how calm the night was. Thinking over what Ladybug had told him he wasn't exactly sure where to start. Of course she was going to like Jagged Stone, an amazing hero deserves to listen to amazing music. Ladybug was in secondary school, as he expected, he knew they had to be around the same age, commonly complaining about homework and tests due.. He could at least narrow that down to Seconde, Primière, or like him Terminale. The bakery was also something, though probably a dead end. Being a model- especially one that worked for his father, bakeries weren't something that he really saw a lot of but he knew that he would recognize his Ladybug anywhere and he was determined to start looking as soon as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please kudo, comment or whatever! Also come bother me at foxyclocks.tumblr.com! I'd love to hear from you guys!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Supersorry about this being so late... Sorry for the shortness as well but I figured i'd give you something fast so I could get working on the next longer chapter! 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy, also, I found some first chapters I completely wrote out for other fics I guess I never posted so keep an eye out for that!!

It’d been a couple weeks since Marinette had started school, which also means that it’s been a couple weeks since Marinette had failed to correct her classmates on her gender. Like she’d always told Tikki, this wasn’t something new, she’d often been mistaken as a boy and at this point she really didn’t think it mattered what other people thought she was. She knew what she was. She knew she had the freedom to wear or be what ever she wanted and this morning she wore just what she wanted. Pair of black jeans and a rather oversized white tee shirt French tucked into the front of her jeans topping it off with a mid-thigh length army green zip-up sweatshirt. Standing in front of the tall mirror leaning against her wall trying t perfect her look with a pair of high-top shoes.

 

Tikki drifted over with a black beanie in her grip, “It’s going to be a little chilly today, Marinette.” She said with a sweet smile as the girl slid the beanie over her head, letting it dangle in the back.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Adrien stuffed several full paper bags of pastries he had collected from bakeries of Paris. He knew it was probably impossible to visit every bakery in Paris, but to narrow down his search he began starting from the street he lived on and making his way down every street across until he reached the end, and then starting again by going one more street up and making his way across again.

 

He took on more than he could handle.

 

Eating pastries was a filling process.

 

An expensive one too.

 

The only people who didn’t seem to mind it was his friends. As each morning after a night of scouring the streets he’d collect this pastries he’d bought and share them with his friend’s a lunch. Nino and Alya at least were always ecstatic about receiving the sweet treats. Well, except Marin, who always critiqued the baking styles and tastes and textures of the treats saying that they were nothing in compare to the delicious things his parents would craft. Adrien, at this point, believed him; his parents really did make the best pastries in Paris.

 

Adrien was always sure to, however, pick up a couple macaroons for Marin at each bakery he went to, the dark haired boy always seemed to be pleased to take them and always seemed to go through them quite fast.

 

Adrien arrived to class a little early making it possible to stop off a small café to grab a coffee. Taking a seat in his usual spot, Adrien let out a sigh leaning back deep into his chair and taking a sip of coffee holding it close to his lips and letting the steam from the cup brush up against his nose and cheeks.

 

“Hey Adrien, you’re here early”

 

Slowly, his eyes opened, “Hey Marin-.” Shit.

 

Marin looked… cute… No, no, no, no. That’s not what he was going to start thinking, why did he even think that?! _Stop thinking Adrien, just s t o p!_ Shaking his head back into reality he cleared his throat.

 

“W-What’s up Marin” he said shoving his coffee back into his face.

 

“Same old, same old, except a little colder than usual.” Marinette smiled plopping down in her seat behind the blond setting up her notebook ready for class.

 

Adrien moved to turn around in his chair to continue the conversation but was promptly interrupted by yet another notoriously rude blonde.

 

“Adrikinns~~” she said with a floating tone turning the boy around by his shoulders to face him, “Don’t waste your time on that loser, why don’t we do something special for lunch today, hmm?” she asked, in attempt to entice him.

 

“Marin, isn’t a loser, Chloe…” Adrien began, gripping onto his coffee with both hands to keep them warm, “Unfortunately I already have plans for lunch with some friends, today, so maybe next time.” He added with a small smile.

 

“Uhg, why are you always hanging out with those losers, they’re definitely not as cool as me.” She added tightening the tie against her thick blonde ponytail.

 

Marinette leaned her cheek up against her palm, squishing it forward slightly, “Yeah, maybe we’re not as ‘cool’ but we sure are nicer..” She mumbled.

 

Catching the ear of the class jerk Chloe sent her glare up to the boy sitting one seat behind her Adrien and stomped off to her sear muttering to herself.

 

Soon after it wasn’t long until Alya and Nino who, for the past week have been making it to school at the same time joined Marinette and Adrien. Coincidence? I think not, Nino had expressed that he knew Alya’s route and began taking similar routes that would meet her in the middle at the same time, every day, so they could ‘by chance’ get the opportunity to walk to school every day. Nino’s thinking of this, however struck Marinette equally terrible yet smart. Everyday Nino would attempt to find random coincidences between him and Alya that would slowly make her see all the things they had in common which would result in Alya falling for him.

 

It wasn’t the dumbest idea, but she wasn’t sure how well it would work on Alya. That girl had always had a long history of guys hitting on her, one that Marinette always had a jealously about that fact, but honestly how could she blame her? Alya was beautiful; any guy would be lucky to have her.

“Hey there, cutie!” Alya called out to her best friend upon entering the classroom with a small wave.

 

Marinette waved back, she didn’t know what made her think about it now, but she really was lucky to have a friend like Alya. Someone as timid as Marinette paired quite perfectly with the kind of strong person Alya is. There was no doubt in Marinette’s mind that Alya helps make her a better person and is always looking for opportunities to do what ever she can to help Mari out.

 

“You’ll never guess what kind of picture I took last night!” Alya exclaimed with excitement, “I caught this little Parisian cutie on his way back from a patrol!”

 

Marinette calmly contained her eagerness to see the photo; in fact, she recognized the photo in fact. It wasn’t Chat after patrol, but it was her kitty waiting on her, for the first time in their superhero lives, she was late for a patrol, but she didn’t remember minding. All she could think of was Chat’s gentle voice calling out to her, his head remained looking forward, not at her, but it was almost like he could sense she was there, “My Lady, you’re late,” He said softly but she could see a smile perking around on the side of his cheek.

 

Alya leaned over and nudged her brightly blushing friend, “Don’t worry, I already texted it to ya~” she smiled.

 

Marinette blushed pressing her hands against her cheeks to hide it.

 

It wasn’t long before class started and everyone began to settle down in their seats. Marinette, as per usual, zoned out. Though, she didn’t find that it ever affected her, she was already seemingly ahead of her class and classmates. Madame Bustier had even mentioned moving her up a class but she didn’t think that she really wanted to leave the friends she just met, besides, it was good review and she really liked tutoring her classmates, it was giving her ways to make new friends and meet more of her classmates.

 

Chloe on the other hand, couldn’t help but sit and sulk. Why would Adrien continue to pass up opportunities to spend time with her? But no! Instead every chance he got he had to spend time with this Marin guy… What was his deal anyway? He shows up out of nowhere and is this huge know it all and all the sudden Adrien wants to hang out with him?! It wasn’t fair! Marin was a nobody besides, what a weirdo! He had such a weird look to him, like something wasn’t quite right. Just the thought of it frustrated her.

 

It wasn’t long until break started, Chloe watched Adrien and the other freaks walk out of the classroom together for lunch and grunted.

 

“Hey Chloe, ready for lunch?” Sabrina asked over her friend’s shoulder taking her lunchbox out from her bag and setting it on her desk.

 

“As if!” Chloe responded smacking her palms down on the table forcing the chair out from behind her. She slung her bag over her shoulder and stormed out of the room, “This is ridiculous… Utterly ridiculous…!” she yelled as the classroom door slammed behind her.

 

Chloe stood at her locker holding up a bright yellow mirror from her backpack staring into it she began fixing her hair and makeup, “So unfair… Adrien will notice me and he’ll drop that dumb little Marin like the bug he is...” It wasn’t until long she began to feel a presence above her, suddenly, her vision went black.

 

“Hello Chloe Bourgeois, or should say _Envie_ … It seems your attention has been taken from you.”

 

“Yes, Hawkmoth.”

 

“With my assistance, I can give you the power to have to make you the center of everyone’s attention. I just need one thing in return…”

 

“Anything for you, Hawkmoth.”

 

A grim laugh wafted through her mind, “Good… This is where you will start…”


	6. Envie

Marinette and her friends took their usual spot in the courtyard at a small table. Marinette like usual had a couple of pastries paired with something special her parents and her had made the night before, this time it was a pair of meat dumplings her mother had taught her to make. Marinette never usually ate all of her lunch but there was never a doubt that one of her friends would eat the rest of it. Adrien as per usual, well, usual as in the past week and a half or so had brought an abundance of pastries. 

“You never struck me as having such a sweet tooth.” Marinette said with a small smile.

“Have you seen that kid?” Alya started, “He’s never had a sweet tooth let alone been able to step more that 20 feet away from a bakery.”

“Yeah, dude, what’s up with all the pastries man? You’ve never eaten like this before.” Nino added shoving a spoon full of curry his mother had prepared for him the night before into his mouth. 

Adrien averted their gazes nervously, he couldn’t just come right out and say it and if he were to where exactly would he start? 

“Oh yeah, I’m Chat Noir and my best friend Ladybug told me she works in a bakery so I’m determined to find her.” 

As if! 

He just had to come up with something fast. They’d never believe that his neither father nor Nathalie would be letting him do all this, he also couldn’t just tell them that his father never noticed because he was going around to these bakeries in disguise as Chat Noir, it was already in a couple of tabloids, even Alya had said something earlier that week, so maybe that’s what he could go off on?

Nervously, he rubbed the back of his neck, “Well I’ve been trying out all the bakeries that Chat Noir has been going to, the guy seems like he’s got a pretty good taste in bakeries-“

“These macaroons are terribly made. They aren’t even cooked all the way.” Marinette began, like she usually had each lunch Adrien brought pastries from any bakeries that wasn’t hers, “The croissants aren’t fully cooked either… I really thought Chat Noir had better tastes than this…”

Uhg, now he’s done it… Even Marin was ashamed of his alternate identity, but how could he stop? He had to find her! It’d been two years and he was starting to become desperately curious as to who his partner really was, all though, it was a Tuesday and he planned on getting more out of his partner than he had before. 

“Yeah, everyone knows Mari’s parents own the best bakery in Paris! No one beats the Dupain-Chengs!” Alya protested for her friend.

“That settles it! Friday after class we’re heading to the Dupain-Cheng bakery to get Adrien some real pastries!” Nino said in excitement, there was no getting past giving that kid some sweets and he was always looking for an opportunity to get his hands on some.

“Deal-“ Marinette began before getting cut off by what she could only think to explain as an echoing whisper almost impossible to ignore.

“Marin Dupain-Cheng, I’ve had quite enough of you.”

The voice rumbled throughout the walls of the school, everyone’s attention scattered looking wall to wall to find it’s source.

“I’m tired of a nobody like you having all the attention. Now you’ll see what it’s like to be put on everyone’s backburner.”

It was out of nowhere, beams of reflective light began to shoot from different directions striking Marinette’s classmates left and right.

What was going on?

Who was doing this?

Marinette took cover under the table, obviously it was an akuma but where was she going to go? She was exposed nowhere she could transform… 

Adrien on the other hand had acted quickly; knowing it was an akuma be took off running for cover in the bathroom. There, at least, he’d have enough privacy to transform without anyone noticing. 

Taking cover in one of the stalls, Adrien opened the front of the button up layer of shirt he had on to allow Plagg out into the open. 

“What’s going on?” Plagg said with a tone of confusion. 

“I’m not quite sure yet, but I don’t think that it’s anything good… There’s an akuma loose and it’s after Marin… I’ve gotta help him…” He said concerned ready to transform as fast as he could. 

“You really got a thing for that kid, huh?” Plagg added with a grin crossing his small paws over his fluffy chest. 

“Shut up Plagg, it’s not like that! Marin is just a friend…” Adrien said with a hinted blush growing across his face. Shaking his head back into focus he got ready, “Plagg, Claws out!” he yelled allowing the transformation to take over his body. 

Out in the courtyard Marinette found herself still stuck under the table, without Tikki’s power, she had little to no chance of getting anywhere private to transform. With her coordination that fact was a lost cause. 

Opening her bag, she peered in to look at her red and black spotted friend, “I don’t know what to do Tikki… I cant just transform here..” she whispered trying to stay out of site from the akuma that had appeared moments before. 

“Chat Noir will be here soon, wait for him to provide a distraction for you to transform.” Tikki said with a smile, “For now take cover, and think of a plan, you don’t even know what kind of Akuma this is, or why it’s after you…” Tikki said making Marinette realize a big question.

Really, what had she done? She couldn’t think of anyone that she had upset that day or even that week… 

“I am Envie, and I won’t stop until everyone’s eyes are on me!” The ghostly voice boomed through the courtyard.

From beneath the table Marinette poked her head out to, well lay eyes upon the akuma that was almost in a sense possessing her victims surrounding her in attention and admiration. 

“Is that…” 

It was her.

It was Chloe. 

But what had Marinette done? She hadn’t ever really spoken to Chloe in the past, sure, she wasn’t a huge fan of her, after all, she could kind of be a brat, but it’s not like she’d ever said anything out loud about it. 

The girl, now akumatized seemed to have a purple glow to her, whisping throughout the air eerily. Her black clad hands extended at the tips of her fingers with sharp claws, which grasped a bright silver shining mirror. A cloak she wore drifted down past her floating feet and a hood reaching just over the cusp of her hairline leading to eyes glowing with the aura of a purple mask illuminating the shadow of her face. 

Hawkmoth was really going for the fear factor this time. It seemed as time passed he began to grow more and more desperate to scare Ladybug and Chat Noir into handing over their miraculous’. 

Marinette stared sneakily over the edge of the table still hiding the rest of her body underneath keeping an eye on the akuma who seemed to be greatly admiring the attention she had been getting, it actually seemed to be distracting her just enough for Marinette to think that she could get away. 

Slowly, Marinette began to stand up when a shiver was jolted down her spine when a set of claw tipped hands grasped her shoulder.

“Marin, come with me, I need to get you somewhere safe. Ladybug and I will handle this.” 

A sigh of relief washed above her as she turned to see her masked partner with a smile following Chat into cover. Running into the opened ceiling space in the courtyard of the school, Chat Noir placed his hand around Marinette’s hip, resting it there and holding onto her tightly.

From the clothes she wore, Adrien never really sore the outline of his friend’s body. Marin’s hips were quite… defined. 

Chat shook the thought from his head, and sprung them out of site still holding onto Marin as tight as he could. 

He was so… warm and his hands resting on his shoulder, they were so gently placed and they looked so soft…

God! Stop it Chat! Focus! He couldn’t help but feel flustered by the feeling Marin put in his stomach but he just didn’t get it… He didn’t understand why the feeling was there…

Landing safely on the roof Chat released his friend allowing him to take cover safely away from the akuma that seemed to be hunting him. 

“Just wait here safely, Ladybug will be here soon to help me resolve everything, no doubt!” Chat said cheekily. 

Marinette blushed a bit, this wasn’t the first time that she had see Chat Noir while as a civilian, but this was in fact the first time that he had come to her rescue. Not only that but his hand around her hip held onto her so gently, yet made her feel so safe. She didn’t know how it was even possible…

Biting her lip, she began to speak with a slight hesitation, “You really are an amazing hero, Chat Noir…” she said timidly. Part of her wanted to show him who she was but she knew that there was no way that that could be possible. As big of a crush she had on him she understood that she had to keep her identity a secret. As master Fu always said that it was crucial to the safety of his heroes that their identities remain a secret from anyone that wasn’t them, the miraculous or Fu. And although she trusted Chat Noir there was still the possibility that something could slip up, he could be held in a dangerous situation because of the fact that he knew such a secret. If their identities were to be revealed there could be a potential of people, even Hawkmoth going straight after them in their civilian forms making it near impossible to defend themselves without being able to transform. 

Chat felt his face begin to heat up. 

What was going on?

He hated this feeling… It was almost like it made him feel sick but more like his stomach flipped in his body when he heard Marin say that. 

It’s not like it’s such a big deal, he gets complements like this all the time but for some reason it felt different coming from Marin, but he had to shake it off and focus…He had to find a way to hold of Envie long enough for Ladybug to arrive.

Chat sat upon the roof above the courtyard, peering down with Marinette by his side. 

There was no way that Marinette could transform while Chat sat there but it didn’t seem like he was going to be leaving anytime soon. 

This was the first time they’d seen an akuma like this… Sure, all the other times an akuma was usually after someone but they didn’t look so, well, terrifying. A black smog emitting from the handle of the mirror that the akuma held. Her eyes seemingly lacked a pupil only emitting a green glow while she seemed to desperately search for her target. 

Marinette peered over Chat’s shoulder placing a hand gently on it as she leaned over him but there was something strange happening to the akuma… While she was desperately trying to search for Marin, sending out the hypnotized students around the school to more thoroughly search for the missing Marin. 

“Chat… look…” Marinette mumbled pointing out that there was a purple mask hovering above her face.

Chat’s ears pressed back against his head in caution, “It’s Hawkmoth…” he growled, there was nothing good to happen when Hawkmoth intervened in the middle of an akuma attack, there was no telling what he would say to or tell her. 

But this time it was different. 

The black smoke began to surround the girl. Slowly one by one the students began to regain consciousness. The dark mist still surrounding the akumatized Chloe. 

“Chat… What’s going on…” Marinette muttered, she’d never seen this before.. In all her previous years of fighting crime along her feline friend she’d never seen Hawkmoth attack an akuma of his own creation. 

Soon the students regained consciousness slowly evolving into a state of confusion as they looked around. There was no sign of Ladybug of Chat Noir anywhere from their sight, nor was there any sign of-

Chloe- Envie… She was gone..! 

The two heroes, one masked, one not, but both remained dumbfounded at the scene.

The girl and the akuma was missing and there was no telling where she went, but they knew that Hawkmoth had something to do with it. 

After the students returned back to normal school was cut short, students were sent home in a panic.

This was new, dangerously new. 

Because of Chloe’s status in Paris it wasn’t long for news reporters to get a hold of the story. 

Hawkmoth can kidnap his victims once akumatized.

If being akumatized wasn’t terrifying in its own, now the victims had to be worried about being whisked off to… where ever Hawkmoth was located, and that could be a far more dangerous fate that anyone could imagine but there was one question…

Why was Hawkmoth kidnapping his victims..? 

What was the point in that? Without giving them a chance to even go after the heroes miraculous…that had always been Hawkmoth’s purpose. Now there was no telling what he was after, but either way it wasn’t going to be good and it was likely going to be dangerous for Ladybug and Chat Noir.

That was Marinette’s next cause of action. Now that she was home she had to wait for the commotion from her parents to calm down before she tried to leave and contact Chat Noir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> starting to get back into the swing of writing this fic... Hopefully it's not getting too bad for you...


	7. Chapter 7

In the days following the attack on the school and the kidnapping of Chloe Bourgeois the city laid low. Many people didn’t leave their homes, open their stores, even schools shut down for the rest of the week while authorities investigated the situation. Even Chat Noir and Ladybug decided to lay low after their meeting a few hours after the kidnapping…

 

_Ladybug lept from the building tops watching the people below her scurry for cover. Parents dragging their children inside, windows and doors slamming shut, store ‘open’ signs shutting off making the Parisian side streets grow dim as the sun began to set. This did nothing to settle the spotted heroes nerves. Paris had never been this shaken before. It was the second time that day she found her self at a loss for words and a loss of idea on what to do._

_Finally getting her footing set on the flat top of a building just before the square in front of the Eiffel Tower she sat and she waited for her companion… She began to feel guilty since she wasn’t able to, quite necessarily, be at the scene… It was hard to transform with Chat sticking right beside her but she understood his reason for staying… It wasn’t exactly easy to rush into such a, well, scary scene all alone… The guilt started eating at her, she felt bad not being there for him and not being able to save Chloe.. She could only hope that Chat wasn’t that upset at her._

_The girl began tapping on her yo-yo anxiously._

_“Milady…” a deep voice appeared from behind her sounding defeated._

_“Chat..!” She said quickly turning on the balls of her feet. She could see the look of disappointment on his face, “How ya doin’..?” she followed up._

_Chat only shook his head._

_Ladybug placed a hand on his shoulder, “We’ll fix it, Chat.” She tried to say in reassurance, “Why don’t we just focus on what we can do for now.”_

_Chat nodded, “We should lay low for as long as we can… we don’t know what Hawkmoth has planned, and I don’t think that it’s going to be good…”_

_Ladybug nodded gripping onto Chat’s shoulder with a small squeeze and a smiled as he turned towards her._

Marinette sat at her desk taping her pencil against the top. School had been canceled but that didn’t mean she didn’t have studying to get done.

 

It was then that her phone buzzed with a loud vibration sound against her desk causing her to drop her pencil and swipe the phone up. It was from Alya.

 

_A: Hey girl, how ya doin?_

_M: Eh… Bored, parents won’ let me leave._

_A: I feel ya, tryna sneak out later tonight??_

_M: What??_

_A: C’mon, it’s been 3 days I gotta get out_

_M: I dunno Alya…_

_A: Think about it_

Marinette shook her head leaning back far in the chair with a sigh she wasn’t sure exactly how she’d even do it without being noticed, her parents were sure to notice, they checked on her every hour.

 

Everyone in Paris remained terrified of akumatization, especially those who had already been susceptible to it in the past. Marinette’s parents remained locking up the apartment and their rooms downstairs while Marinette ‘locked’ up her upstairs room.

 

_M: Maybe…_

It took nearly seconds for Alya to respond, almost like she was waiting for the message.

 

_A: YES!! I’ll let the boys know! Nino’s been bored out of his mind!_

_M: Where would we even sneak out?_

_A: Just meet me at my place_

Marinette hesitated there wasn’t a point in backing out now. She was bored out of her mind too. She felt confortable saying that she wouldn’t be one to be akumatized but there was the possibility that Nino and Alya could… Knowing Alya personally when she became akumatized and after becoming good friends with Nino he confided that information with her. Being akumatized wasn’t something anyone who had been was proud of flaunting about… It was usually something that they preferred to keep it a secret.

 

Her phone began to vibrate against her desk again.

 

_A: 101B Rue Montorgueil, down the stairs._

_M:??_

_A: One hour, girlie._

If there was one thing that Alya love was being mysterious over text, and if it was one thing Marinette hated was how broad she was when her best friend would text her important details to plans.

 

Marinette resumed her reclined position back in her chair and shut her eyes letting her hair drift back as much as it could. Maybe she’d let it grow out, at least a little. Maybe then people would stop thinking she was a guy. Leaning back up just far enough to peer into the mirror to examine her face. She’d never been one for make up either. Her chest remained remarkably flat ever since, forever really. Well, at least looking at her self compared to the types of clothing she’d wear, most loose fitting. Maybe it was her fault everyone thought she was a boy. There were steps that she could take to change it. I mean, it’s only been three weeks since she’d started school so it wasn’t too late… right?

 

Marinette sprung up at the sound of gentle knocking at the latch door that lead to her room.

 

“Nette?” She could hear her father call out from the other side of the door slowly creaking it open and peaking his head in, her mother following behind, “Everything going alright up here?” They both asked gently.

 

Marinette nodded shifting the front of her hair out of her face with her fingers, “I’m almost done with homework here, I think I might call it a night in a bit too..” She said with a slight smile in the corner of her lips.

 

Both her parents entered into her room. Her father took a spot on the Chaise and her mother on the edge of her bed. It was a few moments of silence before the talking began again.

 

“Everything is all locked up, you’re safe here now.” Her mother began, “Have you locked up your room yet because-“

 

“Yes Maman.” Marinette said with a sigh and a smile, “We’ll be fine. None of us have been akumatized before so I think that we’re safe.” She tried to say reassuringly, there was no way that she would allow an akuma inside her home. Especially get anywhere close to her parents, “I am getting kind of tired though…” She said stretching her arms above her head.

 

Quickly, her parents sprung up, “Of course dear, we’ll get out of your hair.” Her father began before both of them placed kisses atop of her head; “We’ll see you in the morning.” He said before the both of them left.

 

Of course she felt bad lying to them, especially sneaking out, she’d never done it before… Well, that in the sense of sneaking out as a civilian. In reality she’d snuck out on numerous occasions disguised as a Parisian super hero. The only difference this time was that she wasn’t exactly sneaking out to save an entire city and the life of an akumatized victim.

 

So the only thing that made this time different was that she was going for “selfish” reasons. She couldn’t stay locked up in the house for this long she was beginning to get bored out of her mind. Besides getting out into the city would leave her with the opportunity to really check on how people were doing. Maybe if the people of Paris saw some pedestrian traffic people would stop hiding in their homes. After all, they had to come out eventually… Right?

 

Twenty minutes had already passed, Marinette planned on going in what she had already had on. Pink jeans and an oversized black sweatshirt with a small Chat Noir logo printed on the chest.

 

Tikki drifted up from behind a small fort of pillows on Marinette’s bed and stretched her arms up, “Are you sure that this is a good idea?” Tikki ask drifting over to the desk and sat down letting out a small yawn.

 

“Why not? I’m sure you’d rather get out of here than stay here for how ever long we’re on lock down..” Marinette added slinging her purse over her shoulder for Tikki to hide in. She moved the strap over her head onto her other shoulder letting the strap rest across her chest, “We’ll be fine Tikki, besides, I think I’m going to need Ladybug to help me get off the balcony.” She mentioned before Tikki could fully submerged into her bag.

 

“Tikki, if you wouldn’t mind,” She grinned, “Spots on!”

 

It wasn’t soon before her body was coated in her familiar spotted suit. She quickly made her way up onto her balcony shutting the door tightly behind her. Her hair sank down past her shoulder, bangs, like usual, tied back into a small bun on top of her head. Ladybug bared her footing on the edge of the railing and looked over the empty streets of Paris slowly growing dark as the sun had set, since the street were almost completely abandoned they grew far darker than normal.

 

Ladybug opened her yo-yo searching the address that Alya had given her. It actually wasn’t too far from the bakery, on the other side of the school actually. Though She would most likely have to stay out of sight. She had no idea what this place was anyway. Most likely someone’s house, but whose parents would even allow them to have their friends clear across Paris in a time like this just to hang out? As easy going as her parents were they would never allow anyone to leave their homes just to hang out.

 

The spotted hero extended her yo-yo to the top of the building beside her home and repelled down the side into a darkened alleyway where she could remove her spots and continue on the streets as a normal civilian.

 

“Tikki, spots off… Thanks, but stay awake, there’s no telling what’s out here and we need to be ready for anything.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Adrien wasn’t so much bored, as he was any other day. It was usually like this, after school he was subjected to all the activities that he could do in his home, piano lessons, Chinese, as well as exercise. Nothing had really changed at all his life basically went back to how it used to be before his father started to allow him to go to school.

 

Plagg, like usual, sat sprawled out on Adrien’s bed surrounded by a plethora of Camembert Cheese.

 

“Did you have to like such a stinky cheese..” Adrien grumbled plugging his nose up while he fell back onto his couch.

 

It wasn’t long before his received a text.

 

It was from Nino.

 

_N: Yo! My place, tonight! Think you can get out?_

_A: I’m desperate to get out of this place. I’m leaving now._

_N: Rad! Alya and Marin are heading over too_

_A: I’ll head out now, see you in a few_

_N: Door is open_

Finally! He wasn’t going to be stuck in that hellhole for much longer.

 

“Plagg lets get out of here.” Adrien said in a hushed tone reaching over to his piano and resting his ipod on the music stand to play music. He planned on keeping Nathalie and his father in the dark about where he was going. Besides this tactic never failed when he was going out as Chat Noir so why would it fail now?

 

Adrien collected his things and strapped his bag over his shoulder, “Plagg, Claws out!”

 

His body coated in his darkened costume as he pried opened the window in his room jumping down with his baton to break his fall. As his feet touched down in his front garden he sprung off to take cover and shed his hero persona. Plagg zipped back into his bag beginning to binge on all the cheese he had packed for the night and Adrien made his way out of the alley, turning the corner and making his way to his friend’s house.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Gabriel sat in his chambers, grimace plastered on his lips as his loyal assistant came up behind him.

 

“She is ready.”

 

Nothing else was said. The room fell silent once more with the occasional fluttering of the small butterfly wings. Gabriel, after a few moments of letting his assistants words sink in, stood tall, in costume and faced her.

 

“Let us see how well she is willing to cooperate.” He said in a deep tone, his words echoing off the metal walls that surrounded them.

 

Nathalie nodded and followed suit standing behind Hawkmoth as the floor beneath them lowered into an impossibly darker chamber lying beneath his lair. Seven cells filled the room, only one occupied. Cell maybe wasn’t the word that Hawkmoth would use. He would refer to the rooms as dorms, carefully selected for each of his victims for the optimum amount of comfort for the optimum about of corporation.

 

Hawkmoth paused between his three knocks before entering the room.

 

Sitting in the center of the room, scared, looked up at the man.

 

“You want revenge, no?” he said bringing sound to the empty room.

 

Chloe looked up, eyes still glowing green and nodded. As scared as she was her determination was still set as the akuma, while lacking its power still held control over her. As long as the akuma rested inside the mirror Envie would remain possessed without most of her power allowing Hawkmoth to akumatized the other victims needed.

 

“Good. You will remain here; my assistant will tend to your needs. Stay comfortable while I gather the others needed for my plans. Your power is crucial to me Envie.”

 

Chloe let a smile grow upon her face.

 

“Do not fail me.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think i'm starting to get back into the swing of my writing, especially for this fic! I am also starting to remember where i was going with the notes I took for it as well ahah! Hope you guys like it!


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